{"id":8839,"date":"2026-02-17T18:03:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=8839"},"modified":"2026-02-17T18:03:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:03:33","slug":"real-madrid-why-benfica-champions-league-tie-is-pivotal-moment-for-alvaro-arbeloa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=8839","title":{"rendered":"Real Madrid: Why Benfica Champions League tie is pivotal moment for Alvaro Arbeloa"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Since the defeat in Lisbon in January, Arbeloa has made some changes, including tweaking Real’s formation.<\/p>\n

That match was the last time he played with a 4-3-3 formation, where Franco Mastantuono, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr started as the front three.<\/p>\n

In Real’s subsequent three games, Arbeloa has changed to a 4-4-2 set-up, where Mastantuono drops back into midfield to leave Gonzalo Garcia, Vinicius and Mbappe as rotating striker options. <\/p>\n

“Defensively, it’s a structure that closes down the midfield corridor, where there are more players, and allows us to be more compact,” Arbeloa said.<\/p>\n

“With the type of players we have, if we want to counter-attack, it also allows us to do so. We have a lot of room for improvement. I’m very happy because, beyond the systems, the key is effort, mentality, and teamwork, and we’re achieving that.”<\/p>\n

Asked if his team is stronger with four midfielders, Arbeloa explained that “the goal is always to be solid”.<\/p>\n

“It’s very difficult these days to play good football if you’re not solid, compact, and don’t know how to press high up the pitch,” he added.<\/p>\n

“To do all that, you need a lot of concentration, a lot of work and training. [Federico] Valverde, [Eduardo] Camavinga, [Aurelien] Tchouameni, and [Arda] Guler are doing a fantastic job [in midfield], and I don’t need to tell them anything new.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Since the defeat in Lisbon in January, Arbeloa has made some changes, including tweaking Real’s formation. That match was the last time he played with a 4-3-3 formation, where Franco Mastantuono, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr started as the front three. In Real’s subsequent three games, Arbeloa has changed to a 4-4-2 set-up, where Mastantuono<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}